Alleged Anti-Muslim Attack in Elmhurst-Apparently a Hoax

While writing about the story of an alleged gas attack on a Dayton mosque recently, I have also been following the alleged assault on a female Muslim student at Elmhurst (IL) college on October 9th. Tonight, it appears the report was a hoax.

Today, Elmhurst police have charged Safia Jilani, 19, with one count of filing a false police report. The article may be found at:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/10/report-student-made-up-campus-attack.html

Jilani had reported that on the evening of October 9th, she had been assaulted in a college restroom by a masked male who pistol-whipped her, threatened to kill her, and wrote anti-Muslim words on the bathroom walls. In the wake of the incident, the school called it a hate crime, students demonstrated in her support, and campus police increased security.

Now the authorities have determined that there was no attack and that the report was false.

After the Dayton incident, which still has not been resolved, I was treating this incident with caution before writing about it. As I said when the Dayton story broke, if Muslims had, indeed, been singled out for attack, I would condemn it. In fact, there is nothing more cowardly than attacking defenseless women and children.

At the same time, manufacturing phony "hate crimes" does nothing to bring Muslims and non-Muslims together. It only exacerbates the problem and widens the gulf.

I also want to point out that I am not using this case to make conclusions about the Dayton incident (as murky as it seems right now) or the alleged telephone death threat this week against LA-based CAIR attorney, Todd Gallinger, who is running for Irvine City Council, and with whom I have sparred. If,indeed, Gallinger received a death threat, then I hope the person responsible is caught and punished.

I just hope the Elmhurst incident will not become a trend.